Most salon styling and coloring procedures begin with a thorough shampooing. When a client's hair is washed by a cosmetologist, the client sits in a chair which reclines toward a specially shaped sink. The sink is shaped to receive the client's head while the client's neck rests on a scoop in the sink that is specially shaped for this purpose. This allows the client's head and hair to extend into the sink basin. A spray nozzle connected to a flexible hose may then be manipulated by the cosmetologist in order to wet the client's hair, shampoo and rinse as desired. In order to fully clean and rinse the hair, the nozzle may be directed up underneath the client's head and toward the client's neck.
Various devices have been used to cover the client in an attempt to prevent water from splashing or dripping onto the client's clothes or the reclining chair. One such device is a towel that may be tucked into the client's collar. While towels are absorbent and can readily be used to dry the client's hair after shampooing, they also tend to become wetted by the shampooing and rinsing procedures. Additionally, the cotton material in towels may wick the moisture and thereby transmit the moisture to the client's clothing underneath the towel. This may be a minor inconvenience for some clients. But, for other clients, especially those wearing dry clean only clothing, it is a serious problem that requires the client or the salon to pay for dry cleaning of the contaminated clothes. Another drawback with using conventional towels is that they must be laundered after each procedure, thus, requiring additional expenditure of time, energy and money on behalf of the salon, which is undesirable.
Another device commonly used in salons is the plastic or vinyl cape which is placed over the client and secured to the client's neck prior to cutting, styling or coloring procedures. These conventional plastic capes typically have a cotton tape edge binding which may be used directly on the client's skin. Alternatively, plastic capes may be used on top of sanitary cotton, tissue or other suitable wicking material, e.g., Sanek® Neck Strips, placed first around the client's neck. The absorbent neck strip combined with the plastic cape might be preferred over the cape alone because of sanitary aspects relating to the reuse of the cape. While this combination of an absorbent neck strip and cape may be suitable for most cutting, styling or coloring procedures, it is generally unsuitable for protecting the client's clothing during shampooing. This is because the capes may be loosely secured about the neck area and, thus, do not provide a water tight seal with or without an absorbent neck strip. Furthermore, the absorbent neck strip can also provide a wicking action similar to the conventional towel and procedure described above. And finally, Sanek® Neck Strips may dissolve or disintegrate when wet, which is undesireable in the shampooing and rinse procedure.
Yet another conventional approach to solving this problem is known as the double drape method which combines the use of a cape with two towels. According to the double drape method, a first towel is placed lengthwise across the client's shoulders, crossing the ends of the towel beneath the client's chin. Then a plastic cape is wrapped over the first towel and fastened at the back of the client's neck. Finally, a second towel is wrapped around the client's neck and the ends of the second towel are again brought together under the client's chin. There are a couple of drawbacks with the double drape method. First, double draping is too bulky for the client and the stylist. The towels become wet and uncomfortable then generally have to be removed for easier access for the service being performed. Second, double draping doubles the amount of towels that must be laundered for each client serviced thus increasing costs, which is undesirable. A conventional single drape method that eliminates the second towel of the double drape method still fails to solve the problem of wetting the client's clothing and also tends to be bulky, though not as much so as the double drape method.
One attempt to solve this problem has been to use thin plastic sheets used to wrap food and the like, which may be placed around the client's shoulders and tucked under the client's collar. This provides a water impervious layer that may have some efficacy in protecting the client's clothing. However, such plastic sheeting materials are generally uncomfortable because they stick to the client's skin. Furthermore, because the plastic wrap readily sticks to itself, the plastic wrap is difficult to dispense and place over the clothing of the client. Generally, such plastic wrap material is not precut to size, thus, increasing the time and energy of the cosmetologist performing the desired procedure.
Other solutions to this ongoing problem have been proposed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,420 to Gettinger describes a cape having a separate back splash guard panel that prevents splashing through the open back portion of the cape below the neck line during shampooing. But the Gettinger cape still suffers from the lack of sealing and wicking problems of conventional capes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,568 to Morris-Jones describes disposable bibs made of absorbent material that have a flap which may folded over to provide a neck opening and a second layer of absorbent material. While the Morris-Jones bib could be used in salon procedures, it is not moisture impervious and would leave the problem of protecting a client's clothing during shampooing unsolved.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,844 to Kehl et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,442,552 to Bolick et al. disclose bibs with layers of liquid impervious materials, thus, improving on the Morris-Jones bib. The Kehl et al. and Bolick et al. bibs could conceivably be used in the salon context. However, the Kehl et al. bib is designed for use in a dental office and does not wrap completely around the client's neck. The Bolick et al. bib has a triangular hole for insertion of the client's head, thus, surrounding the neck. However, the Bolick et al. bib head opening also fails to provide a water tight seal around the neck.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,919 to Baggetto describes a stay dry collar that includes a triangular tuck panel that can be tucked underneath the client's collar with end portions that may be tied around the client's neck to secure the Baggetto device in place. The Baggetto device is flexible and moisture impermeable, thus, avoiding the wicking problem associated with the above-described devices and methods. The Baggetto device provides adequate protection directly behind the neck and for the client's clothing that it surrounds. However, the Baggetto device does not protect the client's clothing all the way around the neck. This is a problem immediately after completion of the rinse procedure and as the client sits up from the reclining chair for drying of the hair. Additionally, the Baggetto device may be uncomfortable when tied around the client's neck and the procedure for placing and tying the Baggetto device is time consuming for the cosmetology professional.
It would be advantageous to have a comfortable, disposable neck and clothing protector that is impervious to liquids and, thus, protects the client's clothing during shampooing procedures. It would also be advantageous if this protector were capable of being wrapped all the way around the client's neck to provide protection to the front side of the client's clothing as well as the back side. Thus, there still exists a need in the art for an improved neck and clothing protector and method of using same.